A variation is any change to the job after the quote was accepted. The customer adds a power point. You find rot behind the skirting. The tile the customer picked is out of stock and the replacement is dearer. Variations are normal. Unpaid variations are how a profitable job becomes a loss, and undocumented variations are how a happy customer becomes a one-star review.
The method is the same every time: stop, say, quote, get the yes, then do it.
Set it up in the original quote
The variation policy belongs in the note of the first quote, before any work starts. One or two sentences: any change to the scope, or any work found to be needed that is not listed above, will be quoted separately and sent for acceptance before it is done. Say also what the rate is for unlisted work, so the customer knows the basis before there is a number.
With that sentence accepted, every later variation is something the customer already agreed to the process for. Without it, every variation is a negotiation that starts from you want more money.
When you find something
Stop at the point where the extra work begins. Do not do it and tell them later. Show the customer, or photograph it and send the photo. Say what it is, what it means if it is left, and what it costs to deal with. Then put it in writing as its own quote.
In Quote Desk this is a new quote, built in a minute: one or two lines, a note that says this is additional to the quote accepted on the date, and a send. The customer presses Accept on their phone, often while you are still standing there. You have a dated record of the extra and the yes, separate from the original quote, which stays exactly as it was.
When the customer adds something
Same method. They want the second bathroom done while you are there, the extra downlights, the garden bed. Say yes, and say you will send the price through. Build the quote from your price list. Send it. Wait for the Accept before you start. If they want it done now, they can press the button now.
The temptation is to say sure and sort it out on the invoice. The invoice is the worst place for a new number to appear for the first time.
Pricing a variation
Price it on the same basis as the original quote. If the original was per point, the extra points are per point. If labour was hourly, the extra labour is hourly at the same rate. Customers accept variations priced consistently and dispute variations that look opportunistic. Include the materials and the extra time, but do not re-charge the call-out fee for work on a day you are already there.
If the variation is a substitution, show the difference: the chosen tile is unavailable, the replacement is this, the difference is this much more or less. A variation that reduces the price should be sent too. It costs you nothing and it buys a great deal of trust.
Small variations
Not every extra needs a quote. An extra ten minutes, a bracket, a bit of silicone. Have a threshold in your head, say half an hour or $50, below which you absorb it and say so. Above it, quote it. Telling the customer you threw in the small thing is worth more than the small thing.
The variation nobody wants
Sometimes the find is big: the slab is wrong, the wiring is dangerous, the frame is rotten. The customer did not budget for it and you did not quote for it. Stop. Explain. Quote it as a separate job with its own lines. Give them the option of pausing while they think. A customer who is told the truth and given time will usually proceed; a customer who feels pushed will not, and will say so publicly.
Keep the quotes separate
One job, several quotes: the original, then one per variation. Each with its own accept. Do not re-issue the original with the extras folded in, because then nobody can see what was agreed when. The quotes page in Quote Desk shows them under the customer's name in order, each with its date and status. At invoice time you add them up and every line is already agreed.
When the customer says no to a variation
Then you do not do the work, and the original scope stands. If the thing you found makes the original scope unsafe or impossible, say so in writing and explain what you can and cannot complete. Do not do the extra work anyway and hope. The no is a record too.
The short version
- Variation sentence in the note of every original quote.
- Stop before the extra work, not after.
- Show it, say it, quote it as a new quote.
- Same pricing basis as the original.
- Get the Accept before the tools come out.
- Keep every quote separate and dated.
The method takes five minutes per variation and saves hours per dispute. It also makes you the tradie who put it in writing, which is the one who gets asked back.